Four thousand
milligrams
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August 23, 2017 |
By Sergeant Foster Mayo
Boundary County Sheriff's Office
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| Those in
Boundary County who have prescription
drugs to dispose of, either because they
are outdated, no longer needed or
illegal, can dispose of them safely in
the lobby of the Sheriff's Office, no
questions asked. |
Her name was C.W. and she was addicted to
Demerol. I found her prescriptions in more than
a dozen different pharmacies because of her drug
of choice and her distinctive writing style. No,
she wasn’t a doctor, but she wrote scripts as
well as some, better than most.
Demerol tablets were available in three
strengths, but when you are addicted, you need
and want the most potent. She was predictable,
she never tried to be tricky and specify the
generic name “meperidine.” Her trademark was
simplicity: “Demerol – 100 Mg - # 40.”
Federal law places all controlled substances
into categories or schedules based upon their
accepted medical use, potential for abuse and
their ability to create physical and
psychological dependency. Schedule I drugs are
illegal to possess and have no current accepted
medical use in the United States.
Demerol is defined as a Schedule II drug because
of its strength, severe addictive nature and
propensity for abuse. As you would expect, there
are stringent regulations governing Schedule II
medication prescriptions. However, in a
community with 52 pharmacies, it was not too
difficult to maintain a 4,000 milligram-a-day
habit.
Catching someone doing 4,000 milligrams-a-day is
also not too difficult.
C.W.’s husband had actively recruited C.W. and
two other females into his drug ring after
getting them addicted to Demerol and other
prescription drugs. A surveillance team watched
C.W.’s husband drive the females around to
different pharmacies and watched the females
take turns passing the forged prescriptions that
C.W. had written.
The scripts went in, the drugs came out. They
were good because they practiced doing it every
single day.
The surveillance team dropped a narcotic
detective off at each pharmacy and obtained the
information on who had passed which script and
obtained what drugs. After four stops, we got
nervous about the start of commuter traffic and
the possibility of losing them, so we stopped
them and made the arrests.
“Four in custody, one vehicle and a large
quantity of prescription drugs seized.”
One of the joys of working narcotics is "asset
forfeiture." Any vehicle used for transportation
in drug trafficking and any assets obtained or
purchased from the proceeds of trafficking drugs
are subject to seizure by the arresting agency.
The District Attorney had set up a special asset
forfeiture unit and they were good at what they
did. Their coordinated efforts with the IRS were
legendary.
Watching the smiling arrogance of a dealer turn
sickly pale as an IRS investigator attaches a
lien on all of his/her cars, toys and property
is a priceless moment.
After the arrest, I went to the jail to
interview C.W. She was a mess. Her physical
health was obviously failing. Forty 100 Mg
tablets of Demerol would kill any two or three
normal people.
She had built up an extremely high tolerance for
the drug, however, she looked like the pictures
of the holocaust victims of WWII.
Her prosecution and withdrawal from the drug
were only the beginning of her troubles. C.W.’s
home was a chaotic wreck like her body. Child
Protective Services took away her three children
and put them in a far safer place.
Some of the most commonly abused Rx drugs are
Oxycodone, Oxycotin, Lor-tabs or Hydrocodone,
Methadone, Ritalin, steroids, and amphetamines.
There are several classes of medications that
create other "affects," but the two principle
classes competing for addicts are the
depressants (pain killers) and the stimulants.
Studies indicate that the abuse of prescription
medications is growing faster than the abuse of
most illicit drugs. The scope of Rx abuse and
addiction is nationally and locally understated
and under reported.
Why?
* Rationalization: There is the attitude that if it is
legal it is not dangerous. Drunk drivers use
this one too.
* Denial: “Drug abuse and addiction happens in other
families, not mine.” ”My son is just going
through a hard time right now.” “I can quit
anytime I want.” “I am in control.” “I am only
going to the convenience store.”
I had a traffic stop a few years ago with a
driver who had mixed Lor-tabs with alcohol.
Neither were taken in sufficient strength to
impair, but when taken together on top of the
fatigue present, gave me a driver who almost hit
a concrete barrier and could not walk a straight
line or stand on one leg.
We need to understand that prescription drugs
are dangerous because of their pharmaceutical
quality and strength: Methadone is more
addictive than heroin.
People become complacent in the quantity of
prescription drugs they take, not realizing they
may be developing a tolerance for the drug.
The quality of pharmaceutical drugs is obviously
much better than the drugs that are cooked in
the squalor of an illicit meth lab or in the
jungles of Columbia. There are increasing
reports that street drugs, including marijuana,
being laced with other drugs, especially
"designer" drugs and methamphetamine, with the
intent of creating an addicted customer base.
I’m happy to report to you that there was a
successful conclusion to the C.W. story.
A couple of years after her arrest my phone
buzzed that there was someone at the front desk
asking to see me.
“You don’t recognize me do you?”
A career moment for me: we do not get many
people searching us out to thank us for sending
them to prison.
C.W. believed that going to prison saved her
life. I agreed. Several months later, I got a
phone call from her telling me how she had
re-bonded with her parents and they were helping
her get a job and regain custody of her
children. She was putting her life back
together, minus Mr. W. and the Demerol.
It was about this same time, however, that a law
enforcement associate of mine lost his daughter
to a drug overdose. It was not heroin or meth:
she was a codeine addict.
Her drug of choice was Tussionex, a Schedule III
cough syrup with codeine. She died at 3 o'clock
one morning in the bedroom of the pharmacist who
was supplying it to her. The only good news was
that the pharmacist soon joined Mr. W. in our
prison system.
You win some and you lose some.
Sergeant Mayo retired from Salt Lake City
Police Department and then worked for several
years as a Bonners Ferry Police Officer, finally
“retiring” as Deputy Chief. He continues to
serve Boundary County as a volunteer in the role
of Reserve Sergeant with the Sheriff's Office. |
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